It has been a long hard trek, but Napoli are now back amongst Italy's big boys. The city that elected Diego Armando Maradona as a deity with murals on every house had been starved of top flight football for years, but even after their bankruptcy and restart in Serie C in 2004, there were on average 50,000 supporters packing into the San Paolo.

The glory days of Napoli were the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Maradona reigned supreme with Antonio Careca, CiroFerrara, Andrea Carnevale and Salvatore Bagni. The first Scudetto arrived on May 10, 1987, when El Pibe de Oro was fresh from Argentina’s 1986 World Cup triumph. That year they also became the first team since Il Grande Torino and Juventus to do the Double with the Coppa Italia.

In 1989-90 LucianoMoggi took control and brought in more talents like Alemao and a young GianfrancoZola for their second title, snatched from the grasp of ArrigoSacchi’s Milan, and the UEFA Cup, followed by a crushing 5-1 Italian Super Cup victory over Juventus.

Maradona’s decline and departure coincided with some disastrous financial mismanagement and Napoli slowly crumbled until their relegation to Serie B and later bankruptcy in 2004. Movie mogul Aurelio De Laurentiis constructed an all-new club that within three years had climbed back into Serie A.

Under Edy Reja’s management the team returned to European competition via the UEFA Cup and Europa League whilst Walter Mazzarri’s term saw them progress into the Champions League.

Consecutive seasons under Rafa Benitez saw the team finish third and then fifth, both times 24 points behind champions Juventus. The Spaniard departed after the 2014-15 season to be replaced by up and coming Italian Coach Maurizio Sarri, after he impressively led Empoli to Serie A survival.

The San Paolo is a legend of Italian football, inaugurated in December 1959 and restructured for the 1990 World Cup, hosting Italy’s ill-fated semi-final with Argentina and England’s cracking 3-2 extra time win over Cameroon.

The ground is named after the Saint who is said to have landed on Italian soil in the Fuorigrotta region where the stadium now stands. Originally the stands were made of marble, but in 1990 the project created a new Press zone, athletics track and floodlight system that reduced the capacity from its original 82,789. It is still the third largest arena in Italy after the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan and Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

Napoli fans fill the Curva Sud and an incredible atmosphere is always guaranteed. Even when the club slipped into Serie C, there was an average attendance of 50,000. The 1990 work was not done well, however, and due to structuring problems and security concerns, the capacity has been cut to 60,240.

The stadium is on the outskirts of the city and can be reached by the No 7 or 8 buses, underground train line 6 at the Mostra stop or by train at the Napoli CampiFlegrei station.